Eric Lavallée

Today Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is releasing Alain Resnais' Wild Grass on DVD and we've got the lush, intriguing first eight minutes of the film to share with you where Resnais regular Sabine Azema and Andre Dussollier take turns in the voiceover department essentially telling the viewer one thing, while the image sends us off into a certainly more ambiguous direction. Les Herbes Folles played incredibly well in Cannes (in 2009) and for the most part, was well received by North American critics - making the film potentially Resnais highest box office gross in a long while.

Halle Berry wants another one. Apparently unaware that there isn't much leg room in the Best Actress race, and oblivious to the fact that Geoffrey Sax's Frankie & Alice had its world premieres in in film markets, not film festivals, Berry and some private dollars are getting behind the indie drama attempting to make a push for an Oscar nom in only 6 weeks from now. Deadline reports that Freestyle Releasing will distribute, selecting a December 17th NYC/L.A. release date and going up against Nicole Kidman's Rabbit Hole.

Thanks to a tweet from a certain head programmer from TIFF, we now have an official update on the "Untitled Bullet Train Project" project that Hirokazu Kore-eda had mentioned to us back when he was promoting Air Doll. Film News Asia confirms that Kiseki (Miracle), currently in production, stars real-life, pint-sized brothers Koki and Oshiro Maeda, along with vet Kirin Kiki (from Kore-eda's Still Walking) and popular Joe Odagiri from Air Doll.

A Vietnamese actioner that has been described as "a high-octane martial-arts ass-kicker", Indomina Releasing continue their slate building for their break-out year next year with another acquisition from the Far East. It might be way too early to call first time filmmaker Lê Thanh Son might be Vietnman's answer to Tony Jaa or Johnnie To, but with Clash being picked up internationally certainly bodes well for this filmmakers' career.

Despite being a critically well-like and well-rewarded dramedy with three David di Donatello awards, I've yet to comprehend (perhaps someone can give me the lowdown on the voting process) how Paolo Virzi's The First Beautiful Thing was Italy's selection to represent the country for Best Foreign over the likes of Michelangelo Frammartino's Le Quattro Volte, Luca Guadagnino's I Am Love or the Cannes shown La nostra vita.